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skips

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Everything posted by skips

  1. This is one place to look. just google polyacrylamide crystals and maybe cross reference with "gardening." You'll find other sources. If it is available to you, you can also use agarose (can be called agar-agar). Or canning sugar has been suggested. For "greener" methods of making water crystals, personal message Pharma. He's member of this forum. http://www.watersorb.com/index.html
  2. Very cool picture. Could you post that over on arachnoboards? I think people would like to see them as they're always asking what they look like.
  3. I don't know anything about the first species but if they're not even in the same genus I think there's about no chance they will interbreed. Though i've heard the housing question enough to know that the answer is always, "it could possibly work, but usually one species out competes the others." Some combinations have been done successfully. Which makes perfect sense. Dark greens are good, dog or cat food also, and oranges. For some reason they say it increases reproduction and i've never heard a word to the contrary. Calcium isn't a problem. External sources like powder would be harmful rather than helpful. Oh, and always wash your vegies thoroughly as pesticides are a good way to kill a roach.
  4. I do find that it drys things out much quicker and you may avoid some mold, but it won't do anything for the undersides of your cartons. You could also go with the standard heat cord from a reptile supply. It's also sold as a device you wrap around pipes during the winter so they dont freeze. With a heat pad or cord though you always need a thermostat to hook it up to or it'll burn through plastic or start a fire if it's on wood.
  5. did that work for you. I'm having the same problem. Did the H. miles make a difference?
  6. Haha, by "where do YOU find canning sugar," I meant me. I'll look for it next time I go to the store. Well, now that I think of it, I would say the main use for glycerol is the transport of fatty acids, which to my knowledge bacteria would have no use for. They probably don't have the enzymes necessary to metabolize it. Just a guess. What it phytopharmacy?
  7. Now, from what I know about glycerol metabolism wouldn't it be converted to GAP and enter glycolysis? Wouldn't that then be about the same thing as adding sure to your gelatin? bacteria problems? I was kind of interested in what your profession was as you obviously know far more than a normal person should about biochemistry. where would you get this canning sugar and how would you gelatinize it?
  8. we keep our lights on 24/7. You could just leave them on during the day I assume, as long as your temps dont get below like....75? someone else would have to comment on minimum temp. either way, the hotter they are and the longer they're hot, the more they'll breed
  9. I'm fairly sure it's not used because they have found trace amounts of degraded, depolymerized, acrylate in the past. But it's been used for years by roach breaders with no reports that i've seen of ill effects. I'm an undergraduate, and therefore, not my micro lab. I could ask for a bit i'm sure, but I just started. Right, i also keep dart frogs. That's why I have the methyl paraben. I figured if it can be used safely in my culture media it can be used in my water crystals. canning sugar? wouldn't that bring us back around to stimulating bacterial growth? or is canning sugar not really standard sucrose?
  10. I use 100 watts with the same set up and have had the same experience with 75s. 75 watts are worthless. You'll definately see a difference with the 100 watts but will get up to 85 degrees max. the next step up is 150 watts, but that would fry the heck out of your roaches. He's right, infrared bulbs do tend to dry up the enclosure, but I get around that by putting visquene (you could use plain plastic wrap) over the top to keep humidity in.
  11. How can you tell they've been gravid? Have you seen egg cases? or are they just big?
  12. I would assume so. Like i said, i'm still trying to find out if this has a real basis, but from the amount of people that say it works and absolutely no contradictions I'd say it does. Plus, how long have you had your hissers? My room mate just got nymphs a couple days ago and we've had them since early january. They take a long time. Also, for any invert to breed they need a good protein source. Dog food or catfood works, but if you're only feeding fruit and grain or something it may not be enough. On that though I'm mostly talking from conjecture.
  13. There was a thread posted on arachnoboards recently attributing massive increases in producation to using oranges or grapefruit in some cases. I personally didn't have any dubia reproducing for months until I added oranges and alot of people have had the experience. Has anybody run into something similar? Is that a documented thing or mass coincidence? Maybe we all on arachnoboards are feeding our roaches nutrient sufficient food, supplemented by oranges?
  14. There was a thread posted on arachnoboards recently attributing massive increases in producation to using oranges or grapefruit in some cases. I personally didn't have any dubia reproducing for months until I added oranges and alot of people have had the experience. Has anybody run into something similar? Is that a documented thing or mass coincidence? Maybe we all on arachnoboards are feeding our roaches nutrient sufficient food, supplemented by oranges?
  15. Thanks, and your english is darn near perfect. I've already ordered and started using the polyacrylate and while I had the same issue with possibly non polymer reactant being present, I hadn't heard of any problems and havn't had any so far. I would definitely switch to agar agar if it was anywhere near as cheap and I even knew where to find a decent supply of it. I've got a bit of methyl paraben I could use as a bacterial inhibitor. I would use citric acid, but I would literally have to steel it from my lab...and i'd get fired=bad.
  16. Really? Haha, you're on arachnoboards correct? I'm new to roaches. So, you don't actually have a water source at all and you just pour water into your enclosure? All other things being equal, simplicity is the best route. Hmm...I'll still try it as If it works ill use it for other bugs, but that's good to know. As for the agar, I'm not going use nutrient agar which would promote bacterial growth, just regular agar. It shouldn't grow any more bacteria than regular water crystals--if fact, I think its what they use. I can use something like methyl paraben or propionic acid as an antibacterial/antifungal too.
  17. Interesting in both cases. Polyacrylamide should be very easy to order from a biological supply company. Calcium choride is road salt if i'm not mistaken, though I could supplement with cricket powder, just the CaCO3. I'm going to research this agar agar stuff. I just think it's a bit unnecessary to purchase something overpriced that you can make. thanks to you both.
  18. So, I've been feeding my Lateralis, Dubia, and hissers those yellow cricket water crystals. It dawned on me that the crystals are really just watery jello. At least that's what it looks like. If I bought some unflavored make-your-own jello packets and basically just made watery jello, would that work for feeding purposes? You know, beat the system. Any criticisms.
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